Rats!
by SilverMoonFlames
Summary: Usagi was just a normal Salem school girl who happened to be part of the Lost Scouts when her school is attacked-no,dominated by a mysterious horde of carnivorous super-rats!What will she do when not even her sailor powers can save her friends?


**Disclaimer: Don't own anything Sailor Moon whatsoever.**

**Like my previous fic,Lost Scouts,this has a lot of Japanese names in it that all mean something. So to avoid lazily skipping over words I have their definitions here so's u can look em up!**

**Usagi-Moon**

**Yumei-Dream**

**Hokorashii-Arrogant/Conceited**

**Hamamaru-(something I made up) Kindred hearted**

**Everything else: Made up!:D**

* * *

_Sea Rats! Invasion in Salem!_

Usagi's eyes glanced across the front page of her local newspaper. _Sea rats? _she thought,but the thought was pushed to the back of her mind as a sound caught her ear.

"The bus!" she screamed,hopping on one foot as she pulled on her shoe. Boot to be exact. 2 inches above her ankle and as jet-black as her blue-tinted hair.

She grabbed her pair of black leather gloves and ran out of her dorm.

-

"Mmm," she groaned,tapping her pencil on her desk.

"Hydrogen is the most basic element on earth," her teacher droned.

Suddenly a sound disturbed her.

She perked up,but no one else seemed to notice.

"Helium-" the teacher continued. Her voice seemed distant as Usagi looked around the room.

_Huh?_

She didn't understand it. No one else heard?

_I didn't imagine it..._but she wasn't even sure of that. She couldn't remember the sound,just that she heard it.

After a few seconds of nothing more she brushed it off and continued tapping.

Suddenly she jerked up again.

_There's something there! I know it!_ she looked around and realized this time she wasn't alone.

A scream was heard in the classroom as a girl,who Usagi recognized as 15 year old Hokorashii,stood up and pointed at the only window in the classroom just behind the teacher's desk like every other classroom in the school.

"A rat!" she screamed."Out the window!"

Everyone crowded around the teacher's 3' by 2' window that just grazed the ground.

"Are you sure that's a rat?!"

"It's so big!"

"It's huge!"

Usagi's heart plummeted. It came back to her.

_Sea Rats! Invasion in Salem!_

The newspaper! Rats in Salem! And not just regular rats,sea rats. A foot long,carnivorous,and aggressive. She remembered reading something about them.

_Sea rats: evolved rats that travel among ocean-faring ships,multiplying and crossing through various sea voyagers in attempts to overthrow or devour the crew and eat every edible -and inedible- object aboard._

"Everyone get away from the window!" she yelled,standing up.

No one listened,but stood awe-struck by the window. The teacher stood idly by.

"Look!"

"There's another one!"

"There's more!"

Usagi gasped.

Sea rats lived in hordes.

Vicious...starving...hordes.

"Get away!" she yelled again,but it was too late. The humans had been scented.

"There's so many!" another girl cried as a pool of rats started running at the window,which was covered in curious teenagers.

"They're trying to get in!"

Usagi stood on top of her chair to see through the crowd.

Hundreds of rodents were squeezing together in attempts to look through the window,screaming their hunger at the people through the window,clawing and biting at it. Their screams joined into one,sharp,mangled cry of battle.

"Get away!" Usagi screamed again,but it was no use. Every person in the school was now in danger,and every child in that classroom was going to die.

Realization hit her.

_Everybody in here is going to die..._

She made a split-second decision and ran out of the classroom,swinging the heavy door shut behind her. Cries of surprise were heard from her teacher,who was yelling through it at Usagi. Her voice was muffled.

"Usagi? Usagi Etara get back in here! Who gave you permission to-"

Different cries were heard from the room. Two words were audible through the horrifying sound of shattering glass.

"They're-...breaking-...!"

Usagi clenched her eyes shut and pushed the screams of horror from her mind.

Luckily...

She had two friends in the entire Salem High Dorms.

And neither were in that classroom.

Suddenly there were beatings on the door.

She backed up and held her right palm out,holding it up with her left.

"Infinity Stream!" she cried. Wisps of silver thread started balling themselves in her hand,forming an orb. Then it shot out streams of silver energy at the doorway,melting the wall with the door and sealing it with her energy.

It was done in seconds. It had to be,or the fools inside would open the door and let the rats in.

As the rats had broken the window.

And would eat through the door in minutes.

And then other classroom windows...picking the flesh off the bones of every edible and inedible object in SHS...as they had in Usagi's 9th period science,being a night student.

Every person in that room...

Was nothing but bones now.

But she couldn't think about that. She had lives to save.

Two to be exact.

She took another shaky breath and looked down the hall.

"Yumei!" she cried when she saw a figure across the hall,a few doors down.

She had lavender hair with a purple outfit.

The girl didn't even hear. She was pulling the classroom door closed and slamming it,pulling up her own hand facing towards it.

"Dream Web!" Usagi heard her cry,as several strings of purple froth started swirling in her hand and sprung out at the door,sealing all 4 edges. In a matter of seconds she was done and hitting the floor,sighing exhaustedly.

"Yumei!" Usagi cried again,stamping her boots across the tile floor to her friend.

"Usagi?" she said,pulling herself to a stand.

"Rats!"

"I know!"

"We gotta find-"

"Come on!"

The two nodded and took off down the 200 hall. These doors didn't need sealing.

_Let it flood with rats,see if I care. It's the 400 hall that I need safe,_Usagi thought anxiously,pattering down the hall with Yumei feet ahead of her,being the faster sprinter.

"Wait!" Usagi said as Yumei was about to plunge her side into the door,no doubt a swarm of rats on the other side.

"What?"

"Let's transform first."

"...Right."

The two took a step back from each other and swung their hands into their star signs.

"Infinity Star Power!" Usagi cried,making a small silver crescent light up her forehead.

"Dream Star Power!" Yumei followed,her own purple crescent appearing on her forehead.

Their normal clothes were immediately replaced with their sailor suits,Usagi's black and Yumei's lavender.

"Now let's go!" Usagi cried,bringing her black-gloved hand into a fist.

"I'll open the door and you blast them!" Yumei instructed.

Usagi nodded."Not the Infinity Stream. The Infinity Inferno."

Yumei nodded approval and stepped as close to the door as she could.

"Ready?"

Yumei pummeled the double-doors with all her strength and stepped outside.

"Infinity 'Ferno!" Usagi cried,waving both hands in front of her,a bright black-silver blast of fire billowing from her palms.

The stench of baked rats filled the air within seconds.

"Come on!"

Usagi followed Yumei through the doors and past the library directly across from the 200 hall.

They dashed as fast as their long bare legs could sprint,as the rats were most likely at their heels.

"Usagi,go get him!" Yumei referred to Usagi's only other companion: Hamamaru Keets.

"Right!" she agreed,running ahead and down the sidewalk that lead to the 3- and 400 halls.

Suddenly another shriek pierced the night air as a horde of rats suddenly sprung from behind the 300 hall building.

"Usagi!" screamed Yumei,who was a few feet behind."Dream Blast!" With a jerk of her hand she had a row of blood-thirsty rats polished off in a cloud of purple energy. Replaced by double that amount."Ah! There's so many!"

Usagi stumbled back and cupped her hands together,palms inches apart."Mega Infinity Beam!" She yelled,wrists pulling together and fingers guiding a massive beam of silver energy from her hands,wiping several dozens of rats from view.

"I know,let's go! They already shattered all the windows of the 200 hall!" Usagi yelled back and dove into the shin-deep swarm of rats.

"Usagi! No!" Yumei cried as more rats screamed and piled up on her ankles. Usagi nearly doubled over as their needle-sharp teeth clung and slipped through her skin and claws scratched at her boots. Blood trickled down her boots,making them look much less dazzling as she had first thought of them.

"Run,Yumei!" Usagi called back,wading through the writhing mass."Infinity Orb!" She yelled,throwing silver bombs in front of her with every leap she took. It didn't do much but it was better than doing nothing. She heard Yumei slinging her own attacks just behind her.

Finally Usagi reached out and grabbed onto the handles of the 400 hall doors.

"Yumei,don't let the rats in!" Usagi yelled and thrust back the heavy double doors,not wanting to be out there another minute. Rats' bites were infectous and disease-carrying.

"Dreamsicle!" Yumei shouted,standing back against the doorway and throwing a massive flash of purple onto the ground. It was a DreamPad;strong enough to keep anything and everything away for as long as she fed the energy. Then she turned and ducked into the hallway after Usagi,shutting the metal doors behind her.

"Hamamaru?!"Usagi cried,thrusting back a classroom door. _Er-wrong class._ She pulled it back towards her and sealed it. No one important in there,so no loss in sealing the rats away before they broke the window. Which,she noted,would be in just a few seconds.

Yumei crossed to the opposite hallway and did the same,looking for Hamamaru and sealing the wrong doors.

Hamamaru Keets: Usagi's 9th grade lover. Had been since 6th grade. Being telapthically connected with Usagi,Yumei learned how close the two had become,and had even learned to trust again. If Usagi couldn't save Hamamaru...

Yumei grit her teeth and banged open the next door."Gotta find 'maru..."

Suddenly Usagi whipped around and slammed her shoulder into a door. _He's here! I can feel it!_

The stench of blood and...some other nauseating odor scorched her nostrils.

"Hamamaru!" Usagi cried. A few children were huddled in corners on top of counters,but the rats could climb as well as cats."Maru!"

Yumei heard Usagi's cried and looked to their direction. A door was open,admitting several dozen rats by the second. She gasped and thrust her hands out in a windmill gesture."Dreamsicle!" Another purple flash stuck to the floor in front of the door so no more could escape. Hopefully Usagi would be all right...Yumei finished the few that had already scampered past off with a few more attacks.

Usagi stumbled and waded around the rats,jumping from writhing desks to piles of rats."Disgusting creatures!" she yelled,turning to the window then back to her own bleeding legs,and soon her arms.

"Usagi!" a boy in a corner cried. He was slightly taller than her,with light brown baggy hair and freckles that danced around his cheeks. His baby blue eyes captured her from across the room. His face was cut up and his pants were ripped and bloody,but there was definitely a smile on his face.

"Hamamaru!" she gasped quietly. A new determination,welling up inside her in the form of anger, was clear in her expression.

"Infinity Screech!" she screamed,twisting her hand in the air,her fore-and middle fingers out. Everything around her was gone in a flash;the rats,the pain that was gnawing at her so bad she was sure she would need a hospital by now,Yumei,the school. Everything except Hamamaru.

A bright,immense energy started gathering around her outstretched fingers into a giant orb. Suddenly the room once again swam before her and froze. No movement,no new searing pain at her ankles.

The rats were paralyzed.

"Wha-I don't know that one," Hamamaru said in confusion. He knew she was Sailor Scout. He had even gone a mission or two with her. But this one attack he didn't know. Why is a silver orb freezing the rats?

"It's piercing the air with a shriek higher than we can hear,but it won't affect us. All animals,however,within a mile of us will be paralyzed as long as I have this,"Usagi lowered but did not extinguish the orb at her fingers,running to her love and taking his bloodied hand. The rest of the still living children in the class stood idle. In shock,fear,perhaps didn't know,nor did she care frankly.

She was about to flee the room when one bold student stepped forward desperately,nearly tripping in his haste.

"Wait! Where are you going? Don't leave me!" he said in a flurry of words.

"Kukorai," Hamamaru said dumbly,realizing his friend had been in the room. "Usagi,we have to bring him!"

"Okay," she said,having no time to argue.

"Come on!" she said,walking them out of the room to discover a purple-swirl mat in the doorway.

"Usagi!" Yumei cried,lifting the DreamPad with a flick of her finger,also suspiciously noticing the boy trailing behind her friends.

Usagi stopped and pulled Maru's left arm around her shoulder.

She winced.

"Usagi,that attack is draining you too much!" Yumei cried. "Release it!"

Usagi worked a split-second decision in her head and let the orb dissolve into the air. Immediately the rats started stirring behind them. Usagi threw her arm around Maru and flew down the hallway,him stumbling behind. Yumei quickly figured out the plan and easily surpassed them,dashing down the hall. Kukorai,having no decision other than following the strange girls,quickly caught up with them.

Suddenly realization hit Usagi. They had only sealed half the hallway. And they were the only meat for miles.

"Yumei,no!" she screamed as more hordes of rats started pouring from more classrooms. Yumei stopped and jolted.

"Usagi!" she cried,turning back. Usagi was fixing to,too,until she looked behind and horror filled her face.

"They're eating through the wood!" Maru said quietly,referring to the splintering doors all around them. Usagi looked to him,blue eyes staring back calmly. _He's hurt...he's..._Usagi bit back the tears that came when she looked at his bloody face and turned to Yumei.

"Go to the bathrooms! They have metal doors!" She was running before she finished the statement. Yumei led the way,plunging into the wave of rats towards the bathrooms.

"Go to the girls'. It's bigger!" Yumei said,pushing the heavy metal door open,admitting her friends and making sure it closed completely before sealing it and turning to fend off the rats that had also entered.

"Dream Blast!" Yumei cried. Usagi could tell the exhaustion in her voice.

After the rats were bloodied Usagi slunk Hamamaru into a corner and gently set him down.

"Hamamaru," she whispered,looking him over,a hand on his arm.

"No,I'm okay,really," he said,but she didn't believe him.

"Liar," she said,turning to her other friend."Yumei,take it easy. Please. I'll take care of the door."

Yumei nodded gratefully,plopping down by Maru in the far corner. Kukorai meekly sat next to her.

Usagi slunk to the metal entrance whose edges were sealed with purple chi. Usagi closed her eyes and summoned a deeper strength.

"Infinity," she said quietly,pulling up her hands,walking up to the door and leaning her hands on it,"Shield!"

Immediately a silver liquid started seeping from her palms,sinking and spreading across the door and to the walls. She felt her own life drain a little as her energy was spilled into the 30' by 10' room,a silver sheet now seeping all over it.

"Usagi! What are you doing?" Yumei cried weakly."You can barely stand!"

Usagi couldn't hear. The process took a few minutes,but she kept her being strong,at least enough to protect her most dear companions.

"Yumei," she panted,collapsing at her friend's side."In...the morning...it'll need...your energy too...We'll take turns...to preserve energy."

Yumei nodded as Usagi crawled over to Hamamaru on her other side.

"Hamamaru..." she whispered. His face lit up in a smile. Her heart pounded. _Hamamaru..._

She tried to smile back,but the blood on his face stopped her. She lifted his baggy brown hair(_so soft..._she thought)and winced. His forehead was covered in bloody bites,and several slices.

"Oh,Maru..." she said again. More investigation revealed ripped shirt and ragged pants. All drenched in blood.

"Usagi don't! You're already-" Yumei began to warn.

"Then help me."

"Huh?"

"Lend me your Moon magic."

"How do I-"

Usagi didn't say anything else. Too bothersome;a waste of energy and time right now. She picked up her finger and touched the crescent on Yumei's forehead. It immediately turned red,then a mix of silver and purple. After a few seconds it stayed like that;Usagi didn't move,silver eyes blank and tired.

The whole time Yumei didn't feel anything. At least,until Usagi removed her finger.

"Ah-" she started to cry out in pain,but it was gone as soon as it had come. Usagi was already tending to Hamamaru.

"Finite Generation!" Usagi said,trying to yell loud enough to activate the magic. Yumei sighed. _At least she didn't use _Infinite Generation. _That would have been deadly no matter how much energy she borrowed._

Hamamaru's various cuts and bites began to glow an off silver. Within seconds he stopped glowing and his skin was flawless again,except the blood was still there.

He looked up at her.

"Usagi-" Yumei started as Usagi swayed from her knees on the cold tile floor.

"Usa-chan!" Maru said as she fell into his arms.

"Usagi!" Yumei was fixing to move when Maru shook his head.

"She'll be okay. Let her sleep. She needs it," his eyes were full of concern but he had a small smile on his face."You could use it too."

She sighed and nodded."Okay," she admitted reluctantly and sunk into the wall.

Maru gently lay her down in between Yumei and himself. Kukorai had set himself up in the largest stall,feeling quite uncomfortable.

"G'night Usa-chan," he whispered,planting his lips lightly on her cheek. Then he made himself comfortable off to the side of her. _I have to find a way to protect her...even though she's a scout and I'm not..._


End file.
